Confirmation of Delivery (COD) mechanisms provide notification capability so that an originator of an object is notified when particular actions are taken on the object by a recipient. Current mechanisms find extensive use in electronic mail interchanges where they are used to return a notification, if requested, to the originator of a mail message when the end user recipient has actually accessed the message in some way. The notification may be sent when the end user recipient opens, lists or deletes the message. Confirmation of delivery mechanisms have been extended to allow an originator to be notified when the end user recipient acts on a particular segment of a document (i.e., recipient has viewed page four) or triggered by an event.
In application, Ser. No. 07/513,651, filed Apr. 24, 1990, now abandoned, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and incorporated herein by reference, an automated procedure is provided where a complex process comprising multiple data processing procedures may be initiated and run automatically in response to the occurrence of selected events or in response to a process detailed within a procedural abstract associated with the complex data processing procedure. A listed event may comprise the occurrence of an elapsed time, or the final event in a chain of events, all of which must occur prior to the activation of a specified data processing procedure. The foregoing solution is capable of handling non-isochronous text based messages delivered to a recipient, but is not capable of handling -mail transmissions containing a plurality of related isochronous objects (i.e., time dependent). As used in this specification, transmissions of isochronous data refer to transmissions of time-dependent data such as real-time video and digital voice. Originators of isochronous transmissions are more concerned with the amount of time a recipient has accessed a particular mail object. Current COD mechanisms cannot provide confirmation notices initiated by the duration of time a recipient has spent viewing or hearing (i.e., accessing) a particular mail object. Moreover, an isochronous object can be related to another object making it necessary to view several media presentations for the information to be accurately conveyed. Current mechanisms are incapable of allowing originators to receive notifications based on a total time for viewing related objects. For example, an originator may need to know when a recipient has spent a sufficient time in one object and sufficient time in a related object. After the recipient has spent a sufficient amount of time within the designated objects, then and only then, should the originator want a notification of confirmation.
Consequently, a technique is needed that provides a procedure for notifying an originator when a recipient has accessed isochronous objects a specified amount of time.